Hittite art
It is characterized by a long tradition of canonized images and motifs rearranged, while still being recognizable, by artists to convey meaning to a largely illiterate population.
Scholars have difficulty dating a large portion of Hittite art, citing the fact that there is a lack of inscription and much of the found material, especially from burial sites, was moved from its original locations and distributed among museums during the nineteenth century.
Groups in settlements of this period included Hattians, Hurrians, and Assyrians living in trading colonies, which the Hittites took control of when they moved into the area.
Before this period and during the third millennium, art in ancient Anatolia consisted of rather flat representations of human figures found at burial sites.
[2] Hittite people of the Colony Age took on and incorporated the motifs from the previous civilizations they asserted control over, mimicking indigenous art styles, including in the depiction of animals such as deer, lions, bulls, and raptors like eagles.
The most common opinion among scholars is that it is the holy city of Arinna, because of its proximity to the capital of Hattusa and the ritual practices depicted in art there.
[4] A much-studied monument in this area that is argued to have been constructed at this time is a stone gate flanked by two carved sphinxes and cyclopean blocks covered in unfinished reliefs of a religious procession and hunting scenes.
This procession depicts Hittite royalty and six priests approaching a god in the form of a bull, and a cast of entertainers including acrobats and jesters on ladders.
While some Hittite rock reliefs do not have inscriptions, and thus are difficult to date, others can be attributed to the reigns of specific kings such as Ḫattušili III, or Muwatalli II.
The ceramic works produced at this time, apart from rare decorative pieces, was mainly plain with simple forms and a focus on utility and function.
It also confirms the diplomatic ties with Egypt indicated by the Hittite-Egyptian Treaty, since Megiddo is an important stopping point for ambassadorial messengers between the two regions.
Political collapse of the New Kingdom was followed by rapid decline of the use of Hittite language, that gave way to the rise of closely related Luwian language, but in the same time, Hittite cultural heritage remained influential in various fields of visual and applied arts, particularly in minor states, both Luwian and Aramean, located in south-eastern Anatolia and north-western parts of modern Syria.
The terms "Post-Hittite", "Syro-Hittite", "Syro-Anatolian" and "Luwian-Aramean" are all used to describe this period and its art, which lasted until the states were conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, by the end of the 8th century BCE.
[6][7][8][9][10] Although the states of the Post-Hittite period were much smaller, public sculpture increased, with many statues, and ceremonial exterior paths lined with orthostats or stone slabs carved with reliefs.
[15] At Yazılıkaya, just outside the capital of Hattusa, a series of reliefs of Hittite gods in procession decorate open-air "chambers" made by adding barriers among the natural rock formations.
